you know, he had access to rob porter's fbi file, we're told that he actually encouraged him to stay for at least 18 hours after the first report of these allegations, kelly later told staffers to say that he had moved to fire porter within an hour, there are some staffer who is stand by that and say kelly is correct. but more staffers said that that wasn't correct, that that wasn't how things happened in the west wing and that kelly was actually a really big advocate for rob porter and was telling people within the white house that based on the knowledge he had about rob porter's marriages, that these allegations were questionable and he knew more than there was in news reports and in one instance he said how much more does rob porter have to endure before his honor can be restored? so that is a very different picture than the one that kelly tried to put forward publicly, and that is that he moved really quickly to remove rob porter because of the aelszs. -- allegations. >>> we're going to break this down with tonight's panel, we have elise jordan, msnbc political analyst, former ra

relit gates his role in the rob porter scandal, and reups some of the flash points. donny deutsche. >> yes, i am emotional and i like to play pretty, pretty princess with my daughters. and la-la land. here's the thing. the story broke, kelly and loyalty, the story is the president's secretary of state called him a moron and the president's chief of staff called him an idiot. let's rest on that for a second. >> based on eight current and former white house officials. >> secretary of state called him a moron -- i mean an idiot. that's true. kelly is an apt description of what he's doing in the white house. we're all going to run around in circles. but the scary part is you know it's true. you can see it in there and you can see him acting as principal. >> it's marked in time. let's put up the headline in january where kelly calls trump uninformed. this was in the washington post. john kelly calls some of trump's views uninformed. we have an interview a couple days later where kelly talks about how the president's views are evolving on daca. let's watch. >> this preside

he did the same thing with rob porter and seeing that same language and behavior from trump with ronnyhe said and i think the exact quote was something like he is a good man. and trump is, you know, allowed to believe that and that's fine. but when these allegations are coming out, instead of saying we are going to look at this properly, you know, maybe we hadn't been aware of this before and it wasn't have thed now we will look into it and there is going to be an investigation, he just stands behind them. i think there was coded language in trump's remarks today about ronny jackson where he said, you know, the decision is up to him. i will leave the choice up to him. i think that is sort of suggesting or laying the groundwork for ronny jackson to pull out. >> shepard: maybe right. great to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> shepard: there is word the father of the waffle house shooting suspect could face charges himself because he gave his is on the weapon that the cops had taken away. more on that and what else we have just learned about the suspect's run-in with police before t

let's look at the rob porter example. rob porter maybe should not have had a job in the white house given his history. but shouldn't have had his life destroyed which it is now. if someone like rob porter has allegations against him from his ex-wives that may or may not be true, wouldn't it be wise to have him sit on the sidelines until he's fully vetted and everyone has all the information needed and then put him in the white house? instead, have someone with those type of allegations out there for months and months with half information and cover-up. and then he has to leave absolutely disgraced. wouldn't it be much better if someone with that background, if those allegations were true, had simply not gotten that job? >> absolutely. it would have been better for him and better for the administration. that was not a senate -- that was not a senate confirmed position. >> but that is another person -- >> what i'm talking about is a -- the senate going away from the practice that has been through many administrations and lo

he is the problem not only with rob porter but he lied about an african-american congress woman. but back to what linda was saying i think that donald trump wants to be his own chief of staff and communications director. he believes he can do the job better than everybody else. that is the place we are in. we have a president who likes to lead with chaos. in fighting in your own administration is not the way to do this. >> one of the interesting stories that we are looking at right now is the "boston globe" had a fake issue in april of 2016 jokingly anticipating what it would look like under a trump presidency. markets sink as trade war looms. it had deportations to begin u.s. soldiers refuse orders to kill isis families. not all migration and end the diversity lotto. there are a lot of things we need to do first and foremost building the wall making sure we have a symbol of a right and wrong way to come into the country as well as a barrier that significantly slows down transit of illegal things. >> thanks for being here. really appreciate it. who can keep track of all the "star

back and give advice. >> generation kelly is not the solution, he is the problem, not just with rob porterout an african-american congresswoman, fredericka wilson, so he sk constantly finds himself in the press for bad reasons. but back to what linda was saying, donald trump wants to be his own chief of staff, he wants to be his own communications director, he can do the job better than anybody else. we have a president who likes to lead with chaos, and infighting with your own administration is not the way to do this. >> one of the most interesting stories that we're looking at right now is that the "boston globe" had a fake issue, let's put it on camera, joking about what it would be like for president to be president. deportations set to resume. u.s. soldiers refuse orders to kill isis families. but a lot of the issues in terms of the trade war looming are actually in the news today. >> that's true and supporters will probably say these are things he talked got on the campaign trail. i remember the day of the election and had a lot of staff in my office crying because of the impact this

there was the issue with rob porter where, you know, he was not found to be fully forthcoming by a lotports, and that undermined his correct publicly inside the white house. i think the pattern is celt whether general kelly or others that president trump has a hard time in all circumstances taking the counsel even of the adults in the room. he's on his second secretary of state, second press secretary, second chief of staff. so i don't know why general kelly would feel secure he could just go forward and lead the team without being -- >> and his national security counsel reportedly rattled by tom bossert being pushed out by john bolton. so you have that aspect of it as well. >> tom was well respected. he made some mistakes times is in the media. but as far as the agencies went tom was a really important figure, and that's important to note here. all of these people are being paid by us, and there's so much drama, but we forget the actual job is to guide the agency's work. you look to the white house to give guidance when there was debates between agencies to sort of, you know, be the h

we learned more about the rob porter case today, specifically communication with the white house thatagrees with the chief of staff kelly's time line. what do you think is the reason for all these personnel kind of errors and gaps? >> it's a sloppy white house, brian. they do not do due diligence. they look at -- i mean the security clearance issue alone that the rob porter scandal exposed is hugely problematic. i mean i think that spoke volumes about the level of organization inside this white house. remember, this resulted in the revoking of security clearances for numerous officials, including the president's son-in-law, jared kushner. i mean look at ronny jackson this week. there wasn't uncovered in this background investigation the allegations of workplace impropriety and giving out prescription drugs and drinking at work functions to excess. so you add all of this up, and it's a picture of disarray that has become all too familiar to really anyone in america who's been paying attention to the news the last year and a half. >> and it's all at the end of the day a great tragedy be

kelly has come under fire for his handling of the ouster of former staff secretary rob porter. kelly initially defended porter as honorable amid allegations of domestic abuse. just last month, the president praised his chief of staff. >> you know, we have general kelly here, four star. and he's doing areat job in washington. >> reporter: but they have had their differences. in january, kelly committed one of the cardinal sins of a trump confidant. when he seemed to publicly embarrass his boss over his number one issue, the border wall. >> he has evolved in the way he's looked at things. campaign to governing are two different things and this president has been very, very flexible in terms of what's within the realm of the possible. >> reporter: the president fired back on twitter, openly contradicting his right hand man, saying, "the wall is the wall, it has never changed or 'evolved' from the first day i conceived of it." >> so let's get to cecilia vega. she's live from the white house. a forceful denial from john kelly. what are your sources telling you about the relationship

in a letter to chairman trey gowdy the fbi says it first sent over derogatory information about rob porter on march 3rd of 2017. that derogatory information file was addressed to don mcgahn, the white house counsel's office. the white house continues to insist it did not learn about the allegations that porter abused his two exwives until february 6th of this year. that's nearly a year later. white house officials tell fox news that mcgahn never saw that file but no one could explain why. bret? >> bret: john, it was clearly a bumpy ride for scott pruitt up on capitol hill. is there a sense behind the scenes there that his future has changed in the eyes of the white house? >> i don't know if this changes things to any greater degree than they were already at, bret. it's no secret at the white house that the only person in this building who supports scott pruitt is the president. but then again, he is the only person who needs to. >> bret: one last thing on ronny jackson he goes back to his former job? is he going to stay there? >> that's a question. is he currently working in the white hous

. >>> and a new development this morning on the departure of rob porter, president trump's staff secretary resigned amid allegations of domestic violence against his two ex-wives. well, in a newly released report the fbi says it informed the white house counsel about derogatory information on porter more than a year ago. that conflicts with the time line put out by the white house indicating they were told much later. >>> stormy daniels' attorney now says her case is stronger thanks to an interview from president trump. during the phone call on fox news, the president acknowledged that his personal attorney michael cohen represented him in the stormy daniels deal. now, trump previously denied knowing about a payment cohen made to the adult film star days before the election. experts say that payment could amount to an illegal contribution if it's proven the payment was made to silence daniels about her alleged affair with the president in an effort to protect trump's candidacy. >> michael would represent me and represent me on some things. he represents me like with this crazy stormy danie

one can think of rob porter. but can think of tom price, the former health secretary as examples.y are in part gone but on many respects they are gone because donald trump tries to run this as he did trump ent enterprises. quite off he doesn't do the you're fired himself. he urptdcuts that person until they go. the question is now whether scott pruitt is being protected. john kelly is being undercut because he may have to go since trump may be dissatisfied with what he is doing. >> it is crazy that every week when we talk to you there's more of this to talk about. we always appreciate you joining us. thanks so much. >> thank you. >>> ahead we have the latest on an apparent chemical weapons attack. >> and what happens next? >>> and the poisons of a former russian spy and his daughter has sparked a diplomatic process. it's inflaming tensions. you won't see these folks at the post office they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters ship packages all the amazing services of the post office right on your co

. >> there is another concern too, and this is coming so soon after the rob porter controversy, and that was so mishandled by the white house on so many levels, that there's a new awareness, a new sensitivity to everyone, not just inside the white house, but in congress, terms of people who decide nominations, people who are able to influence this process to say, we're really obligated now. >> it's a key point, because you have republican senators being much more publicly. they call the president impulsive, some of the process mickey mouse, and now it's becoming pub hick. a quick break here. the bromance is up deniable, but will the friendship lead to a new iran deal? don't make a first impression... or a lasting impression without it. ♪ ♪ don't turn your house into a home without it. ♪ ♪ don't go live... or even share a moment without it. and don't watch her dance like nobody's watching without it. whatever you do, don't forget that the more you live forward, the more you need someone at your back. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't live life without it. with the extra

he lost hope hicks, lost his bag man, rob porter. >> i think the circle that advises the president necessarily over time becomes smaller and more insular. every now and then you get a sort of a refresh. somebody new comes in that brings fresh blood to it. he is right for that. especially since so many of the inner circle he trusted and relied on as a sort of normal functioning have had turnover. >> yeah. >> not just the one that is we know about. but thes really helping him get through the day. >> we're out of time. why aren't more republicans speaking out against someone who is directly -- a sitting president directly affecting the markets and companies and people's livelihoods? why -- what's -- >> it's fundamentally shocking to me as a republican who -- who has- -- identified with the modern american conservative movement wins since i had a political sense ability. we have always been the market -- the party of free trade. we have always been the party that has stood for freedom, political freedom, economic freedom. and to see the number of governors frankly even who -- whose tariff war hurt

. >> one source put it to me, back when kelly was on the ropes for his treatment of rob porter, thereome crisis the president is dealing with, if not creating. >> my colleague peter nichols reported on this a little yesterday. in the white house, trump is referred to as "my lawyer." he also fits a central casting role that trump likes in his cabinet and his administration. but you mentioned that at the start of this, trump is breathe breathing easier. white house officials were very adamant about this yesterday. there is a lot of angst about pruitt inside the white house. there are careful not to get ahead of pruitt because of what happened in the white house a while ago. i wouldn't be surprised to see some action in the next couple days. >> and there could be more on pruitt. >> there seems to be more all the time. even if no special favors are there for this lobbyist, you're going to try to buy a condo? it's time to get your glow on! aveeno® positively radiant body lotion... with the moisture-rich power of soy. it transforms dull, dry skin to leave you glowing. positively radiant® bo

moderators have left the board in recent weeks whether it's hope hicks, communications director, or rob porter, who was the sort of white house staff director. for whatever reasons they've left, they have been moderating voices. what you're left with are people who tend to egg the president on and who don't sort of protect him or stop him from wanting to have dinner with don king, from watching fox news and responding to these reports on caravans. as one cartoon put it this morning, he can't seem to resist. he looks up at the cross and sees a giant t, right? so it always ends up being all about him, and this is sort of the beginning of the new normal for the trump white house. >> jen mentions those moderating voices. it's not just this weekend. going forward he's meeting very prominent voices. rex tillerson no longer in place as secretary of state. pompeo still doesn't have a date set for confirmation hearings. mcmaster is one foot out the door. we mentioned hope hicks is gone. lynn, these stabilizing voices, at least what appear to be the stabilizing voices, are gone. this means the president

mcmaster and even rob porter. cabinet had a harsher tone than we usually see in the president's tweets. among them, jeanine pirro, sean hannity, bill shine, don king, bernard kerik and mike lindell. what about the president seeming to be more chatting with these outside voices? >> i had a former white house aide describe several months ago that it wasn't necessarily the damage inside the inner office but maybe just outside, maybe a business friend of the president's who he's sort of looking for advice from that he feels he isn't getting from the oval office. in that sense it doesn't change. the stabilizing forces, as you called them, within the white house sort of tamp down what he may be hearing from outside voices who don't always have the information that the white house does. >> i agree with what mike said. i think the difference is that at this point the president has more people he relies on outside the white house and trusts more than inside the white house because he's lost so many people inside the white

. >> look what the white house staffer, rob porter, because the allegations were so strong, should have -- his job is nothing like this job. >> if you look at the text of the i.g. report. >> it praises him in the end. >> the toxic work environment and the conflict between the two doctors at the top. it's a different -- >> yeah. >> it doesn't address the drinking. >> doesn't even talk about that. >> it's an i.g. record. how would they know that? >> sell the v.a. real estate, give every veteran a card and go to any healthcare facility they want. >> i agree with that. there's an op-ed on foxnews.com. making the case for ronny jackson. says the v.a. needs a combat medic, not a politician. and now we're learning more information about how comey leaked to the press. and new concerns over republican's narrow win in a district president trump won by 20 points. does it show problems? we'll debate. your heart doesn't only belong to you. so if you have heart failure, ask your doctor about entresto. it helped keep people alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant. it can cause h

still ahead, former staff secretary rob porter stepped down after allegations of spousal abuse, but what did the white house know and when did they know it? a new fbi letter is casting doubt on the administration's timeline of events. and scott pruitt grilled on capitol hill and questioned over his excessive spending. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave every time. invented in boston, made and sold around the world. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® hello. give me an hour in tanning room 3. cheers! that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel

fired white house secretary rob porter. critics say the administration has taken most of it on himself. take dr. jackson. the president all but showed h imthe door. >> what does he need it for? to be abused by a bunch of politicians that aren't thinking nicely about our country? i really don't think personally he should do it but it's totally his decision. >> the president said he wasn't aware of the allegations. the question is why? how did he get the job? the president was impressed by his press conference, the one where he talked about just how incredibly healthy the president is. >> he has a lot of energy, a lot of stamina, hands down. he's in the excellent range from a cardiac standpoint. his overall health is exexcellent. his heart exam, like i said, was in the excellent category for his age and sex. i think he will remain fit for duty for the remainder of this term and even the remainder of another term if he's elected. >> how does a guy who eat mcdonald's and all those diet cokes and never exercises is in as good a

>> that's the same person who probably vetted rob porter, the guy accused of beating his wives. this white house doesn't know what's going when it comes to vetting any more than they do financial conflicts of interest. i don't know whether somebody's on drugs or somebody just doesn't care. the president is tweeting as if -- i don't know what's going on with him. this white house is in complete disarray. and this never would have happened in a professionally-run operation, to have someone with this many serious allegations proposed for a senate-confirmed position in the administration. >> again, they're allegations now, and they're very serious allegations, admiral kirby, as we talked about, but even if they weren't in the picture, the president himself even talked about dr. jackson's lack of experience. watch this. >> i've gotten to know him pretty well. he's a great doctor. and it was a suggestion. now, i know there's an experience problem, because lack of experience. but there's an experience problem, the veterans administration is very important to me. >> so the white house t

this would make the rob porter controversy seem minor, i would say. >> actually i've been wondering, if we were ho stto step out of nomination, do you think he would stay as the white house doctor or would he step down from that as well? >> that would be -- that would be interesting. i don't know. if these allegations are true it's hard to see him keeping that job either. >> yeah, okay, i want to switch gears to rudy giuliani opening up these possibilities about a trump mueller interview, but we know trump has gone on with a twitter rant and focusing on mueller in general. do you think that's going to affect the possibility that he could have a sit-down interview with bob mueller once again? >> if he does sit down with mueller it's going to be a lot different than his bullish talk going in and setting the record straight about the so-called russia hoax. i think after the raid on cohen's office and his residence it's not going to be this free for all. it's certainly if he sits down going to be a bit more controlled. >> all right. live in washington, we'll check back in with you in a l

remember we saw the same thing happen in the past with rob porter.was not properly vetted and the president was put in an awkward position, i would say on that front. though he doubled down on it. and the same with ronny jackson. so either ronny jackson was nominated by the president without his staff knowing or his staff once again did not conduct a thorough vetting process which again we've just found all of this out within 48 hours. so it wouldn't have been hard for them to find this out themselves. >> it won't be hard at all. joey, let me get to you. another sensitive issue, michael cohen, the president's personal attorney and long time fixer and friend and the president was asked whether he thinks that -- whether he's considering a pardon for michael cohen. and the president responded, he snapped at the reporter and simply said stupid question. was that a stupid question? >> well, here is my view of this, is it a stupid question because of course i'm going to pardon michael cohen. or is it a stupid yes because i'm not considering pardoning micha

rob porter who was accused by both ex-wives of domestic abuse. there's a pattern here.t seems to me, the president talks about veterans and how important they are. what conclusion can you draw about the importance of them to him based on this process? >> well, i mean, look, he has no governing agenda and to the extent that we've heard one come out of this administration, deconstruction of the administrative state has been -- and there's no reason to believe that's not still operative. when you don't have agenda, a positive agenda you want government to do, if you are a member of a party that has had -- espoused and still maintains a philosophy that government is an obstacle as opposed to something a force for good that can do things, the idea of putting people in who are going to do their job well is not even -- it's not something contemplated. they are there to act as a conduit to privatize, to basically strip the government of its services, you see this in agency after agency. whether it's the doj which is run fairly well relatively speaking. > yes. >> but still, you

the rob porter scandal -- either they're lying on forms, which i believe is a crime to li lie on federal background check. what is the actual technical way these candidates who are unqualified are getting through? >> well, the vetting is just not as thorough as it was in past white houses. there is one aspect of the vetting that's quite thorough in the trump white house. it's a review of sort of what the nominees or potential nominees have said in the past about trump. there's a pretty thorough check of their twitter, their facebook, did they support another candidate in the republican primaries. >> seriously? >> yeah, that matters a hlot to this president. there are people considered for jobs who don't get through because of that. it's important for us to remember that the senate plays a key role in the vetting. trump today talked about how this process is dirty and unfair and the politicians in the senate are tearing apart his nominee jackson. but it's not quite that. they're doing their constitutional duty to provide oversight of the executive branch. it's their job to vet candidates

predictable in that donald trump, whether it's rob porter, other folks in the white house who struggledwe know donald trump prioritizes people he likes over anyone also and he makes decisions by the seat of his pants. he's an instincts guy. could this have been avoided? of course. you don't nominate someone to run the second biggest bureaucracy without doing some level of checking on him. there was no vet. everyone was caught by surprise. republicans, democrats, many people in the white house, by the pick of ronny jackson. and we know why it happened. donald trump likes him. and donald trump luked husband performance in a press conference in which he explained h he was in better health than people thought and he could live until he was 200. that's why he was nominated to get this job. >> mulvaney, current director of the consumer protection bureau. he was quoted in the new york times giving a speech to bankers in which he said this. we had a hierarchy in my office in congress. if you're a lobbyist who never gave us money, i didn't talk to you. if you're a lobbyist who gave us money, i m

sort of compared it to other equivalent moments where when the president fired comey and when the rob porter saga was unfolding. those are two sort of key and very low moments for this presidency. so people are incredibly worried. i will say in terms of order of firing, if there were to be that, as of now at least, people's understanding and sense seems to be the person who the president is most furious at right now is rod rosenstein, followed by jeff sessions, who's sort of perpetually furious at, and then mueller. even though the president seems to believe he has the authority to fire mueller, it still seems as of this afternoon, rod rosenstein was most squarely in his crosshairs. >> jeremy bash, is it your understanding that the president, as his spokesperson articulated from the white house podium today, they now believe they have the power, the authority, to fire special counsel bob mueller, who is investigating the president for potential collusion with american adversary russia for potential obstruction of justice. they now believe they have the power and authority to fire him. your t

her former boyfriend rob porter had of course, been forced out of the whiert house under a cloud of domesticiolence allegations and she was wrapped up in the scandal and decided enough was enough and the president is very productive of her and upset she was dragged through the mud. it's striking to point out that hope hicks as communications director was virtually unknown to the american people, never appeared on television. very rarely granted interviews, did not speak in the press. she -- her job was to speak for the president and release statements for the president, but he viewed her of very productive of her. she was a behind the scenes player. >> she was very smart. gabe sherman, got to see you and look forward to seeing you again. thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> a late night tweet storm from stormy daniels attorney, not a storm but he released one that raises questions about her end game. what does america need to hear from stormy? ay be one of the wos most familiar companies, but we make more than our name suggests. we're an organic tea company. a premium juice company. a coconu

have carried out hiring and vetting individuals i think, you know, starting with somebody like rob porterand now, you know, dr. jackson's nomination. i think there are serious questions about how the president is appointing new nominees for very high-profile, very high-responsibility jobs and their readiness for it. i mean this came out. it was kind of a land speed record to have somebody say, never mind. i don't want to go through this. so going forward, one would assume that these questions will be put to the white house. you know, how is the president picking his nominees and why? >> jeremy, as the member of this panel who is a veteran of the agency and the pentagon, this next one is to you, and it's about the korean peninsula. this has been the situation my entire adult life, and while i don't have your schooling, i was taught that our presidents in succession have done their level best to, a, keep the lid on and, b, diminish north korea as a global power. why does the president keep saying that this was left to him, that this was almost uniquely his burden to bear? >> well, i think h

jailing individuals, somehow those concerns that he expressed about due process when it came to rob porternymore. we should all really stop and remind ourselves as you have, as comey just did, all stop and remind ourselves, this is not right. this is not normal. i'd say this has to stop. we can't make it stop. but that doesn't mean we have to accept it. >> jonathan capehart, the last time i can think of a president saying anything about someone who was not yet convicted of a crime was richard nixon talking about charles manson, and he let it slip that he thought manson was guilty, and he had to immediately issue a written corrective statement retracting any notion that he was prejudging the charles manson case. and that was richard nixon, who was a well schooled lawyer, who knew right away that that was a mistake, and he had to clean that up. >> and there was another well schooled lawyer, constitutional law professor who became president of the united states, barack obama, in the early years of his administration who was asked during a press conference for just his reaction to what happene

he hasn't looked effective, really, since the rob porter scandal. >> let me ask about another new development. tonight, as i turn to this new attack trump's launched against the fbi and doj, here is his tweet this evening. what does the department of justice and fbi have to hide? why aren't they giving the strongly requested documents unredacted to the house judiciary committee? stalling, but for what reason? not looking good, exclamation point. the president appears to be referring to a request the committee made for fbi documents related to the hillary clinton e-mail probe and potential abuses of the fisa warrant process. the fbi and doj are run by officials trump appointed. do these attacks make sense? >> they make absolutely no sense at all. we've never seen anything like this. trump needs to remember he's in charge of the executivejustice, fbi, they're part of the executive branch. he needs to have their back. these tweets, while they're not devastating, you know, one or two of them, they're chipping away at the credibility of the fbi and the department of justice. i understand the presi

no hope hicks or rob porter or johnny macintsy. family is involved, ivanka and jared, but not clear where they stand on it. john kelly, the chief of staff -- everything that we've heard before donald trump is this is a president alone and without stricture and without confidants and advisers to trust and dana touched on this, one of the people -- i think jeff too, was michael cohen. that he could sort of talk to. now you can't talk to him. so isolated and the fact that you're dealing with, i think, something that we know bothers him. a dangerous -- >> the lawyer representing michael cohen stephen ryan said they took privileged documents. privileged communications between my client michael cohen and his clients, one evof his clients being the president of the united states. you could only imagine the scene and the fbi agents show up with boxes and start throwing documents and tapes or whatever into those boxes. >> we don't know what they took. all we know is his side -- we do know this is not mueller versus trump, it is likely a jud

rob porter home run allegations of domestic allegations. tonight a senior white house official tells nbc news jackson met with the trump in the oval office late this afternoon described as a positive meeting. that official also says dr. jackson's record as a white house physician is impeccable. he has improved unit morale, received glowing reviews and promotions under republican and democratic preys and been given a clean vet from the fbi. i'm joined by kristin weller, robert costa, "washington post," national political reporter and senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. i want to start with the reporting from kristin. this doesn't stack up, impeccable record, everything's fine. no blemish on it. and yet, drunk on the job. from a number of sources including the senators, ranking democrat on the veterans affairs committee. serious charge in itself. >> ronny jackson denied those allegations, chris. white house officials say they're not true. as you pointed out, there are some lawmakers on capitol hill who also say that's what they heard f

rob porter, no longer in the building. people are saying this is trump unleashed. >> it is.e freest donald trump has felt as president. period. he's looking around, and he's saying all those folks who were requesti going to be there to block and defend for him have been run out. those who were there to control and manage him have been run out. so, from his perspective, those who are left do not have what it takes to stand up to him and even control the messaging, let alone what he's going to do. >> how about, michael, fact checking. how do other republicans -- >> what does that -- >> you talk to establishment republicans all day every day. how can they stand with the president when he goes after daca, blaming democrats, when he ended it. he makes no mention of the stock market, excuse me, he mentions the market and the great economy. >> right. >> and he doesn't reference china putting in place tariffs. and to go after amazon, saying they're not paying their fair share, you could hate the game and want to change the rules, but amazon is working and paying within the confineme

you had rob porter who had to be let go or fired or regned. a lot of people say different things at the white house. the point is he als was not vetted properly most people say because he had domestic violence abuse issues. this is a pattern of white house nominees having real issues. of course, president trump says that all these people are great people, that some of re treated unfairly, but the media is too harsh on them some the white house narrative is they pick great people and they're picking people outside of the box. when people voted for president trump, they didn't want government offi but there are some real issues here. >> nawaz: a lot to watch there. for the momnt he's still the nominee. for the moment. >> nawaz: yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thanks. >> nawaz: in other news today, president trump praised north korean leader kim jong un, and said he hopes they'leeting "very soon." he spoke during his summit with the french president, and saidsi ing down with kim could be a "great thing for the world". >> we're having very good

rob porter, who was the staff secretary, who would have double this.y cohn, and then hope hicks, who is one of the president's trusted aides. so it's just this big vacuum of people who aren't necessarily there to be close to trump. and then just to keep people abreast of how fast he's changing his mind and sort of actually what is happening. >> jonathan, it's hard to get a straight answer and separate out the hyperbole. when you listen to some people, the state department has been hollowed out. you can roll a bowling ball down the hallways and not hit anybody. i will ask you for the effect it has had, especially with kind of president's direct acolytes now missing. talk about the whipsaw effect, how it careens through the administration. what starts in the oval office or generally the west wing. >> well, i mean number one, throughout the administration, you've got an inability for people at the agencies to know not just where the policy is headed but all the twists and turns it's going to take along the way. the lack of consistency makes it harder for

we're talking hope hicks, gary cohn, maybe even rob porter who kept a lot of misinformation away from the president's desk for a while, so talk about that. >> yes, that's exactly right, stef, you see a president sort of unchanged and free to act on his impulses, to say what he wants to say, to try to move the needle. he did it over the weekend on amazon, on nafta, and these trade issues. what we found inside the white house is he's increasingly taking his own counsel. the people who were stabilizing forces around him, who spent multiple hours a day with him, trying to sort of cool him down, are gone. hope hick, the communication director. h.r. mcmaster, the national security adviser, they're gone. many of the people left in the white house are sort of telling the president what he wants to hear. they're saying, sir, you have amazing instincts, you know, let's follow them. and helping enable and really enact what the president wants done. and to some outside observers, that i a little bit alarming. >> it's only fitting, all of us have spent holidays like easter or thanksgiving with cra

. >> rob porter. >> yeah, that's in the other category. >> it just seems to be a problem. >> there's- >> do you need to think about this? >> how many people work in the white house in the old executive office building? you know, we know about the 10 or 15 or 30 people that the media puts up on the screen as the fallen angels. >> because they're the top people. >> but they're not all the top people. they're some of the top people. and there's another what, 500 people that work in the old executive office building. >> do you think sycophancy is a problem in this administration? where you have to bow down really below trump for him to like you? did you in any way become a cla colleague -- and i'm not sure he's the only guy like this in politics. but he seems to dislike it very much if anyone gets any ink besides him. >> you see this video of the whole table, almost like an old mob movie, of telling him how great he is before he starts signing bill and doing work. that doesn't end up being beneficial to you long-term. >> especially when he's walking around like robert de niro twirling th

there's a contradiction to the way the president talks about the rule of law when it's people like rob porter accuse confidential domestic violence by two i different women and talks about there's no due process for him and knob attorney/client privilege? he's a real bleeding heart liberal public defender minded person when he talks about due process and people in his inner circle and when he talks about drug dealers he says we should execute them and deport all the immigrants. how do you make sense of those two different ways the president talks about law and order? >> believes in situational law and order. there is no way that i think you can resolve the tension that you have you just described. he is not a believer in the rule of law. he wants to make sure that those people who he likes, the people who support him are treated in one way and those other whoever those other people are treated in a different way. >> we're going to now do something slightly strange which is play a game of eric holder, this is your life with an individual that you worked with at the justice department who is a

quickly, bossert is the latest departure from inside the white house, hope hicks, we have seen rob porterthe white house and also the administration as we look at this picture right there, how does that change the working environment, do you suspect? >> it is concerning, because the homeland security adviser is somebody who is supposed to be spending 24/7 of their day and their job focused on homeland security threats and so to the extent this reflects just more upheaval and chaos in the west wing, that's not great for having that focus on the homeland security and cybersecurity and terrorism threats. >> lisa monaco waking up early for us with this breaking news from the west coast. we appreciate it. we'll be right back. let's take a look at some numbers: 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom... is a stroke. 80 percent of all strokes and heart disease? preventable. and 149 dollars is all it takes to get screened and help take control of your health. we're life line screening... and if you're over 50... call this number, to schedule an appointment... for five painless sc